In my Thursday night class, we had a little debate about how to interpret the lyrics of "Leaving on a Jet Plane." The jury is still out on that--I looked up a bunch of online forums and there are as many theories as there are knuckleheads on the internet--but one thing IS for certain: you sing better than Ben Affleck does.
So here's a painful scene from a painful movie--though one of my guilty pleasures*--which I share with you now in order to inspire you to keep on singing in class. I know that when you arrived on the first day and I told that you'd be expected not only to learn a new skill, but to swallow your pride and sing, it felt terrifying and overwhelming. But you're all doing a GREAT job and making me very proud.
Remember, it's not about perfection. It's about heart. Some of my favorite performers are, frankly, terrible singers but I could listen to them ALL day because of the passion and conviction that they infuse into their art. Dylan, Neil Young, Lou Reed, Joey Ramone--none of those guys can sing per se, but I'd still take them over any of the auto-tuned, over-modulated "singers" on the radio today. (and by "radio" I mean streaming online music because that's what they do now, right? Now you kids get the helloffa my lawn!) I'm not the most dynamic singer in the universe either and some of the tunes we do in class are out of my range--a-hem, Sunshine anyone?--but I do it anyway because, well, I have no shame really. And it just feels good to holler.
Be patient with yourself, be at ease in the knowledge that your classmates and I are all here to support and encourage you, have a sense of humor and willingness to be silly, and raise your voice!
*In a past life I was a film student and I once got top marks for an in-depth analysis of Armageddon in which I pointed out--among other astute observations--that despite being a big-budget blockbuster, the cast was comprised mainly of actors known at the time for predominantly "indie" films. Affleck had only appeared in Good Will Hunting, Steve Buscemi was only known for Reservoir Dogs and other obscurities, Liv Tyler had only done extremely artsy movies on the fringe, Owen Wilson and Michael Clarke Duncan were nobodies, Billy Bob Thornton had Slingblade and not much else...hardly the A-List, and an extremely unusual maneuver for a summer box office draw. But look at them all now! Weird, isn't it?
Also, if you make a drinking game out of this movie and hit the bottle every time the American flag makes an appearance, you'll be pretty blitzed by the second act. This works for all Michael Bay movies.
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